What kind of 'ism' is this?

If, by a great stretch of the definition of those terms, the workers owning the means of production, as will be the case with Chrysler, is communism and the government owning the means of production, as will be the case with GM, is socialism, what "ism" is it when the owner is a health-care trust fund?

After the smoke clears from Monday's landmark transformation of the auto industry, the United Auto Workers health-care fund will own 55 percent of Chrysler plus have seats on the board. The ownership stake was in exchange for forgiving part of the $10 billion the company owes the fund. Fiat, with a 35 percent stake, will be a junior partner.

This deal represents a giant bet that the Chrysler workers and representatives can succeed where Chrysler management, Daimler Benz and Cerberus have failed. And, as a condition of the $4 billion in federal loans, the company is by the end of the month to come up with a plan for complete restructuring.

At General Motors, the plan is to have the government own, by a debt-for-equity swap, 50 percent of the company and the UAW health-care trust 39 percent.

There are fears that the Obama administration, as the largest shareholder, may begin pressuring GM to build socially acceptable -- and generally unsalable -- high-mileage "green" cars and bar the company from investing in its successful overseas operations. But the White House insists the government will be a silent partner, with the White House insisting the administration has no desire to run an auto company on a day-to-day basis.

The company still has to get its bondholders to agree to the deal, suggesting ominously that if they don't, the alternative is bankruptcy and they may get "no consideration at all."

GM is already in the throes of a substantial downsizing, folding its Pontiac division and planning to close 13 of 47 plants and cut its work force from 61,000 to 40,000 by the end of next year.

The most dramatic impact on the public may be the companies' plans to dramatically cut their number of dealerships, often the most visible retail operations in many communities. GM plans to reduce its dealerships from 6,200 to 3,600. Perhaps much of this restructuring should have been done years ago, but now it seems predicated on buying time until the economy improves and Americans resume buying cars, which they will. But by then the Big Three might consist of Ford and two fractions.